Kaneland better look out

Looked like the Kaneland boys had the Northern Illinois Big 12 East by the throat. Maybe not.

The Knights still have a good chance to tie or win the conference outright but they sure didn't do themselves any favors by losing to a down-in-the-dumps DeKalb team on Friday, at home no less.

The Knights might well have to win one of their last two conference games, both on the road against decent teams (Morris and Rochelle), to win the conference.

Kaneland has struggled to score points for much of the season, which gives a team a pretty thin margin for error when it comes to defense, rebounding and tracking down loose balls. So the Knights got bit by the Barbs, giving some of the other teams in the conference new life.

The Knights have been a streaky bunch this season, and after losing two games to way-under-.500 teams this week, West Chicago and DeKalb, you have to wonder if one of them not-so-pretty streaks is at hand.

Sly's sure the Knights aren't thinking that way, and they're still in darn good shape to win the conference. But any notions of putting the conference away early in February now appear out the window.

Also, Sly wants to give a shout out to UEC River champion Larkin.

Naturally, woulda been nice for one of our Tri-Cities teams to win the conference, but the Royals showed they were the class of the conference this year, and they deserve to call themselves champions.

And congrats are also in order to the Geneva girls. Very impressive win over Neuqua on Friday, even with some help in the form of clanked Neuqua freebies. That St. Charles East Regional next week is going to be a must-see event.